The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home
The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home
The Social Cancer, by José Rizal - Home
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CHAPTER XXXV 169<br />
young man's skin. No one will forgive him for having been afraid of him. Worse and worse, ahem!"<br />
"Do you think so?" asked Capitan Basilio curiously.<br />
"I hope," said Don Filipo, exchanging a look with the latter, "that the people won't desert him. We must keep<br />
in mind what his family has done and what he is trying to do now. And if, as may happen, the people, being<br />
intimidated, are silent, his friends--"<br />
"But, gentlemen," interrupted the gobernadorcillo, "what can we do? What can the people do? Happen what<br />
will, the friars are always right!"<br />
"<strong>The</strong>y are always right because we always allow them to be," answered Don Filipo impatiently, putting<br />
double stress on the italicized word. "Let us be right once and then we'll talk."<br />
<strong>The</strong> gobernadorcillo scratched his head and stared at the roof while he replied in a sour tone, "Ay! the heat of<br />
the blood! You don't seem to realize yet what country we're in, you don't know your countrymen. <strong>The</strong> friars<br />
are rich and united, while we are divided and poor. Yes, try to defend yourself and you'll see how the people<br />
will leave you in the lurch."<br />
"Yes!" exclaimed Don Filipo bitterly. "That will happen as long as you think that way, as long as fear and<br />
prudence are synonyms. More attention is paid to a possible evil than to a necessary good. At once fear, and<br />
not confidence, presents itself; each one thinks only of himself, no one thinks of the rest, and therefore we are<br />
all weak!"<br />
"Well then, think of others before yourself and you'll see how they'll leave you in the lurch. Don't you know<br />
the proverb, 'Charity begins at home'?"<br />
"You had better say," replied the exasperated teniente-mayor, "that cowardice begins in selfishness and ends<br />
in shame! This very day I'm going to hand in my resignation to the alcalde. I'm tired of passing for a joke<br />
without being useful to anybody. Good-<strong>by</strong>!"<br />
<strong>The</strong> women had opinions of still another kind.<br />
"Ay!" sighed one woman of kindly expression. "<strong>The</strong> young men are always so! If his good mother were alive,<br />
what would she say? When I think that the like may happen to my son, who has a violent temper, I almost<br />
envy his dead mother. I should die of grief!"<br />
"Well, I shouldn't," replied another. "It wouldn't cause me any shame if such a thing should happen to my two<br />
sons."<br />
"What are you saying, Capitana Maria!" exclaimed the first, clasping her hands.<br />
"It pleases me to see a son defend the memory of his parents, Capitana Tinay. What would you say if some<br />
day when you were a widow you heard your husband spoken ill of and your son Antonio should hang his head<br />
and remain silent?"<br />
"I would deny him my blessing!" exclaimed a third, Sister Rufa, "but--"<br />
"Deny him my blessing, never!" interrupted the kind Capitana Tinay. "A mother ought not to say that! But I<br />
don't know what I should do--I don't know--I believe I'd die--but I shouldn't want to see him again. But what<br />
do you think about it, Capitana Maria?"